The Variations
by kaz456
Summary: New chapter! The Animorphs knew there might be a little trouble when they tried to have a normal night out, but they didn't expect anything like this...
1. Prologue

A/N: Hello, all! Okay, bear with me through this. I apologize in advance for this prologue, I know it has some cliché-ness, but I needed to establish the mood and setting and everything. Yay, I actually have this story sorta kinda planned out! Woo!  
  
Disclaimer: I am not KA. I never will be. I never can be. I never shall be. I never could be.  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
"NORMAL. Can you say that with me, Jake? That is what we need. We need to do something fun and normal." Rachel stared into Jakes eyes, obviously thinking that if she looked into his eyes hard enough, he might change his mind.  
  
We were all assembled in the barn, our usual meeting place. "we" being the Animorphs.  
  
"Come on, Jake! We've been doing all sorts of crap, blowing up all the Yeerk's stuff, and now, we just need to take a break." Rachel wasn't going to give up anytime soon.  
  
I saw Cassie wince a little when Rachel said "blowing up the Yeerks." She apparently still wasn't too fine with killing things, even things as evil as Yeerks.  
  
Who are the Animorphs? And who are the Yeerks? In a nutshell, we are six kids who can turn into animals who are the only defense for Earth against a race of parasitic creature-controlling parasites-the Yeerks. There's Jake, my best friend and leader of our group. His sort-of-not-official-girlfriend- that-no-one-(supposedly)-knows-about is Cassie, whose family owns the barn we meet in. Rachel is Jake's cousin. She's a tall blonde babe, who is also a lean, mean, fighting machine. Throw in a boy trapped in the form of a bird who can still morph named Tobias, and an alien called Aximili (Ax for short) who is the brother of the Andalite who gave us our morphing powers, and you pretty much have our group. And of course, there's me. I'm Marco, otherwise known as a cute, smart, funny, and extremely modest boy who girls beg to go out with.  
  
At least that's how I like to see myself.  
  
None of us have last names. At least, not any last names that we can tell you. It's kind of sad, really, because I have a nice last name.  
  
"Jake, we have to do this. This is the social event of the month. We have to go."  
  
{What makes this a "social event of the month?"} Ax inquired.  
  
What we were talking about was a free concert being held at the mall.  
  
"Wait a minute. Since when do you care about social events?" I asked her, ignoring Ax's question.  
  
"All the shops are having sales," Cassie explained, looking a bit amused.  
  
Have I mentioned that Rachel is a shopaholic?  
  
Yet, I was even more surprised. While Rachel loves to shop, Cassie has to practically be shoved and pushed into the mall. The name of her favorite store begins with a 'W' and ends with an 'al-mart.' "Cassie, since when do you care about sales? I thought your only interest was animals." I added in a not-so-discreet cough, "like Jake."  
  
Both Cassie and Jake ignored me, although I could see them blushing.  
  
"You know," Cassie piped up again, from where she was cleaning out the cage of some random wild animal. The barn that we meet in is actually a clinic for wild animals. "It might be good for us to go out and do something normal."  
  
{We don't exactly have the best history with normal things,} Tobias reminded us in thought-speak from his position in the rafters, where he keeps an eye on everything.  
  
I snorted. "The boy trapped in the body of a bird is reminding us we don't have the best history with normal things. Am I the only one that sees the irony in that?"  
  
"Yes," Rachel said, turning her icy glare to me.  
  
"Hey, personally, I'm all for going to the mall," I said, raising my hands up as I backed away from her. You do not want to get on Rachel's bad side. "Plenty of chicks there who can get the privilege of seeing the Mighty Marco."  
  
Rachel laughed. "How is that a privilege?"  
  
"Don't be jealous; you know you want some of this," I leered.  
  
"Some of what?"  
  
Jake interrupted us. "It's not good security for us all to go together." He rubbed his head. "Wait, are we even considering this?"  
  
"We can just meet up there! It won't seem strange, because everyone will be there!" Rachel exclaimed, practically jumping up and down.  
  
Jake threw his hands up. "Fine, I give up. We'll go. Maybe it won't be that bad. Ax and Tobias can go in human morph, and the rest of us will split up and 'meet' each other at the food court as usual. It'll be nice and easy. No problems."  
  
For some reason unknown to me, I felt something very close to dread when he said those words. I groaned.  
  
"What is it, Marco?" Jake asked.  
  
"Nothing. It's just whenever you say "nice and easy," and "no problems," it's almost like a sign that something's going to mess up. It's like Xena and "let's do it-"  
  
"Hey!" Rachel interjected.  
  
"-you just know that something bad is gonna happen."  
  
"What, are you scared, Marco?" Rachel sneered.  
  
Before I could rertort back with a scathing remark, Cassie broke in. "Don't worry, Marco. I think that everything might actually work out well this time."  
  
"Fine," I said. "But don't say I didn't warn you."  
  
Rachel rolled her eyes, Cassie smiled reassuringly, and we all turned and headed home, none of us aware of what our futures held.  
  
And none of us aware of just how right I was. 


	2. Marcolicious

A/N: man, I hate writing for Marco. I mean, he's cool to write about, but I hate writing for him. Anyways, here is the first chapter! Please review when you're done reading...how else will I get better? (  
  
Music blasting. Free food, quickly being devoured by everyone. People loitering and dancing. This was my kind of place.  
  
I wove through the crowd, making my way towards a beautiful girl sitting on a bench by herself. No girl that nice-looking should be alone, so I figured that being the kind, caring guy I was I would go over there and join her.  
  
I smoothed my shirt, put on a winning smile, and was about to head on over when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I grinned, prepared to strike up a conversation with the lovely girl who must have accidentally brushed her hand on my shoulders. I turned around and faced...  
  
"Ax!" I yelled, startled by the weirdly pretty boy standing in front of me. About ten people turned around to see who the strange kid that had randomly shouted was. I pretended to look around too, trying to act as if it hadn't been me yelling.  
  
"Hello Marco. Oh. It is surprising- ing- to see you here." Ax gave me a puzzled look. "What-uh are you looking for? Look-ing. Ing."  
  
"Hey Ax, I mean Philip," I said as my heart rate returned to normal. "Dude, don't play with sounds." I whispered.  
  
He nodded. "Yes, Marco. Coe."  
  
Suddenly, Ax began to twist around and shake as if there was something in his pants.  
  
"A-Philip! What are you doing?" I hissed.  
  
"I am moving-ing- my body like the other young people here. Ther. Otherrr."  
  
"You mean dancing? What you're doing is not dancing! It looks like you're having a seizure! For God's sake, stop!"  
  
We walked over to the food court, and were extremely surprised to see the other Animorphs there. Extremely surprised. Note the use of sarcasm.  
  
As I approached the table where everyone else was at, I suddenly felt strange. Everything suddenly got blurry, and the ground seemed to shake a little.  
  
I shook it off. It must have been a side effect of eating a pack of Teddy Grahams at midnight. Next time I would eat the cinnamon ones...  
  
"Hey, man, are you drunk?" Tobias asked in a very un-Tobias-like way as I stumbled into the table, lost in my thoughts.  
  
"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the tree this morning," I whispered loudly.  
  
He shook his head, his face void of expressions. "Sorry. I didn't get any sleep last night."  
  
"Tobias is often cranky when not having received the sufficient hours of rest. Rest-uh." Ax informed the rest of us, as if we hadn't been able to tell.  
  
"Why didn't you sleep well, Tobias?" Cassie asked gently. That's Cassie for you. Always caring about everyone and everything else.  
  
Before Tobias could respond, Jake and Rachel had returned, carrying food for everyone. I grabbed a cartoon of fries.  
  
"Look, there's Jennie!" I pointed out the hot girl whose locker was next to mine who hadn't been wooed over by my charms...yet.  
  
"Of course she's here. I told you everyone would be here!" Rachel said knowingly. Then she turned to Jake, "See? Isn't this nice?"  
  
"Yeah." He smiled at Cassie. "It is," he agreed.  
  
"Aww," I cooed, spraying pieces of fries everywhere. There was no way that I hadn't missed the sappy look he and Cassie had shared. "How sweet-" I began to say.  
  
The ground shook again. Everything blurred up. This time, it was more intense.  
  
"Okay, now I know I wasn't the only one who felt that!" I yelled.  
  
"You felt that before too?" Jake asked.  
  
"Yeah, I felt it!"  
  
"Marco, chill out," Jake whispered. "Quit drawing attention to yourself."  
  
He was right. I did need to calm down. But that didn't mean that something wasn't up.  
  
"Something's wrong," I said to everyone.  
  
"Yes, Marco, you're right. Something does seem wrong."  
  
I groaned. I knew that voice. It was the voice of evil, the bringer of death. It was Erek. Erek is a Chee, an android who has been around since forever who lives for the sole purpose of ruining our lives by bringing bad news. Androids can make holograms around themselves, and right now, 'Erek' was actually just a hologram of a teenage boy.  
  
"Erek? Why are you here?" Cassie asked.  
  
"How could I not be here? Everyone's here," Erek said calmly. Rachel shot Jake a smug look.  
  
"I have projected a hologram around all of us. Everyone sees and hears us talking about the math test. But, back on topic. I think Marco's right."  
  
"Surprise, surprise," Rachel muttered. I shot her a look.  
  
"We think there something wrong," Erek continued as if she hadn't spoken.  
  
"Well, thank you for telling us that, Erek!" I said sarcastically. "Because, you know, there's no way that we could have figured that out on our own."  
  
Now Rachel gave me a look. "Shut up, Marco."  
  
Tobias cocked his head. "Did anyone else notice that the music got louder? "  
  
Actually, I hadn't noticed. But what did it matter anyway? "So what, Bird- boy?"  
  
He tilted his head back. "Well, it's almost as if someone's trying to hide something by raising the volume."  
  
"Okay, I repeat: Something is definitely wrong here." I stated.  
  
"Wait!" Cassie jumped in. "Is it possible that we're overanalyzing things? I mean, we could just be acting paranoid. Maybe the music just got louder for no reason, and we're just so used to being guarded that we're over- dramatizing this."  
  
Jake nodded in agreement. "Cassie's right. There may be something going on here, but we may also just be acting too suspicious. Let's just calm down and we'll wait to see if anything else strange happens."  
  
Jake's my best friend, and I'd back him up any day. But right now, my gut was telling me that something strange was happening. I know I may be paranoid, but I just couldn't shake off this feeling.  
  
Erek nodded, and took off the hologram. He told us he would check with us later if anything outlandish happened. Yes, he said outlandish. Maybe being alive for so long has made his vocabulary a little...odd. Or as he would say, eccentric.  
  
"There are many different-uh types of humans," Ax said brightly. "It seems that the sight of all of them becomes hazy at times."  
  
I nodded absently. Then I realized what he had said.  
  
"Hazy? Hazy, as in blurry?" I spun around to face Ax. "Did everything become blurry for a second?"  
  
He nodded. "I assumed that this was a product of poor human sight. Ite."  
  
No way.  
  
This was too much. If Ax, who wasn't even a human, was experiencing this too, than it must be serious.  
  
I looked at Jake, who had a grim expression on his face. He had realized it too. There was something happening here. And we needed to figure out what it was. Before it was too late.  
  
Than it happened. The blurriness. The ground swaying momentarily. I closed my eyes, and shook my head. And when I opened my eyes, my mouth fell open.  
  
I wasn't in the mall anymore. None of us were. But the place we were at- no, it couldn't be. But it was. There was no mistaking everything around us.  
  
We were back. Back in the Iskoort home world. 


	3. complete JAKENESS

A/N: another chapter. Enjoy, read, and review when you're done.  
  
Out of all places to be, we were back here. In the blink of an eye, we had disappeared from the mall and reappeared in the Iskoort world.  
  
"Told ya something was wrong," Marco mumbled as he stumbled to his feet.  
  
"Okay. WHAT is going ON?" Rachel demanded, also getting up. "I thought we would never be back in this place!"  
  
Personally, I was clueless. It was so random! One moment I had been sitting at a table in the mall, debating whether or not I should grab Cassie's hand, and the next moment I was in topsy-turvy land, the place I had least expected-and wanted- to be.  
  
"Tobias? Ax? Demorph," I told them. They both began to do so.  
  
"Why are we here? How did we get here?" Marco asked. He seemed just as annoyed and confused as I was.  
  
"The Ellimist?" I guessed. I slowly stood up, dusting myself off.  
  
Marco shook his head. "I don't think so. That guy may be sneaky, and he may not keep his promises-" at this I saw Rachel glance quickly at Tobias, who looked away. "-but I think he would tell us if he was going to casually whisk us off to this crazy place again."  
  
"Whisk?" Rachel snickered. Marco ignored her.  
  
"And also, what about the mall? Don't you think that people might notice something if six kids suddenly disappeared from a table? And why are we here? There has to be some reason. We don't just randomly appear in places. Someone must have brought us here, but who?"  
  
"And why of all places, HERE?" Rachel exploded. "Whoever did this could have at LEAST brought all the things we bought with us!"  
  
"You mean, all the things you bought," Marco clarified. Then he grinned at her. "And you're just mad because you don't want to get another haircut like the last time we were here."  
  
The prior time we had come here, we had had to pay for a guide with Rachel's hair. About six inches of it, anyway. And it was easy to tell that Rachel still wasn't too happy with that whole agreement.  
  
"Look around," Cassie said, interrupting all of us. We all glanced around. It was the same. Same nonsensical, multi-colored, twisting, turning, slanting, distorted, seemingly unstable towers and steps that looked like something a kid had thought up with Legos in his spare time. Tobias realized what Cassie was saying first.  
  
{It's quiet. Not like last time. No Iskoorts running up to us, begging us to do things. The place seems deserted.}  
  
"I'm not so sure that's a bad thing," Rachel muttered, obviously still mad about the whole hair issue.  
  
"Maybe not a bad thing," I said, "but a strange thing. Something must have happened. Last time we came here, all sorts of people were chasing after us, trying to get us to buy things from them and to sell things to them. And now, no one's here. There has to be a reason why."  
  
"We don't even know why we're here. How are we supposed to know why the stupid people who live here aren't here?" Rachel all but yelled. Maybe she was feeling the same restlessness that I was feeling.  
  
"I don't know." I felt uneasy. Everything felt strange. It was too quiet. There was no one around. Everywhere felt like a ghost town, and it was beginning to make me feel anxious. That is, more anxious than I already felt. Which was pretty anxious.  
  
Cassie seemed to sense what I was feeling and smiled encouragingly at me. I took a deep breath and tried to smile back.  
  
{Prince Jake?} Ax was now in his natural form, and apparently feeling safer. {I believe that it might be more beneficial if you all morphed. We do not know what may be out here.}  
  
"Yeah. You're right. Everyone to bird," I said. "We don't want any of us to fall. This time, Erek's not here to catch us. Plus, if we're birds we'll be less likely to be noticed. And we can see better."  
  
"Who's gonna notice us?" Marco snorted. "There's no one else around!" But he too began the transition to bird.  
  
Five minutes later, we were in the air, and I felt slightly better. Slightly. There was still the edgy feeling lurking around. It wouldn't go away. And neither would Marco's ranting.  
  
{See what happens when we try to do something normal? It never works out. NEVER. Either we end up having to go on some insane suicidal mission, or Ax gets some weird sickness, or we get zapped to another planet, or whatever. It just doesn't work for us!}  
  
{Yeah, we get the point, Marco,} Rachel said.  
  
He went on as if he hadn't heard her. {See? I told you that something bad was gonna happen! But noooo, no one wanted to listen to Marco-}  
  
{And no one wants to listen to Marco now! So will you please do us all a favor and shut up?} Rachel said in a bothered tone.  
  
I tried to block them out. The air felt heavy. Was that even possible? I had to figure out just what had happened in that millisecond when we had been transported here.  
  
{Look! There!} On the ground we saw a lone Iskoort. The only one we had seen since we had abruptly arrived.  
  
{Anyone notice anything about this particular guy?} Tobias asked.  
  
I studied him. He looked vaguely familiar...  
  
{Guide!} I shouted out. The Iskoort who had guided us around the world when the Ellimist had brought us here to battle the Howlers. Would he remember us? I hoped he would. Maybe he would have some answers.  
  
{Guide!} I said, this time directing my thought-speak towards him. His head snapped up, and he focused his gaze on the six birds-of-prey wheeling towards him.  
  
{Ax, demorph,} I said privately. {Everyone else, stay bird.} We didn't all need to be helpless ad stuck mid-morph. And if Ax morphed, he would have his tail.  
  
{Yes, Prince Jake.}  
  
{Guide,} I repeated. {Do you remember us?}  
  
He twisted his ugly, distorted Iskoort face into a strange look. It seemed almost like a look of...fear. But who was I to judge alien expressions? {Yes.} His gaze was focused on Ax, or more importantly, on the gleaming tail that was emerging. {Yes, I remember the Andalite.}  
  
Ax was almost finished now. The shifting mass slowly was becoming more Andalite than bird.  
  
Wait a minute... why would Guide be scared? And why would he only remember "the Andalite?"  
  
Suddenly, with lightning quick speed, Guide pulled out a strange looking gun. {Yes,} he sneered. {I remember you.} He steadily aimed the gun at Ax.  
  
{Do not move, Andalite.} 


	4. Cassie's crazy contribution continuing t...

Blank65 and Oedipal Kat: wait and seeee....  
  
CASSIE'S CRAZY CONTRIBUTION CONTINUING THE COLLECTION OF CHRONICLES  
  
{Okay, that was unexpected,} Marco whispered.  
  
He was referring to the situation we were in. Guide, the Iskoort who had guided us through this world in the past, had a gun aimed straight at Ax, who was in Andalite form. The rest of us were birds.  
  
Actually, the gun wasn't that big of a problem. The surprising thing was the fact that Guide had a gun. And was aiming it straight at Ax.  
  
{Ax,} Jake said tersely.  
  
In a flash, Ax's tail had zoomed by and the gun was knocked onto the floor, away from the hands of Guide.  
  
Before Guide could utter a word, Ax's tail was by his throat. {Why did you threaten me with a gun?} Ax asked calmly.  
  
{I...I am sorry. I did not mean to.}  
  
{Do not lie to me,} Ax sneered.  
  
{I will not. I remember the power that Andalites have.}  
  
For a moment I was confused. Than I remembered. Last time we had come here, Jake had fed Guide some lie about Andalites being able to tell if someone was lying, and if the person was lying, they could make their head explode.  
  
I struggled to not laugh.  
  
Jake must have been telling Ax something in private thought-speak, because for a moment Ax was quiet. Than he said, {I see that you speak the truth. Now, tell me why you were carrying a gun. And what has become of all the residents of this land?}  
  
Guide sensed that danger was gone, at least for now, and he stood up. {These are dangerous times. It is necessary to be careful. All who venture out must protect themselves.}  
  
{Where has everyone else gone?}  
  
{Captured. Or killed. By...by them.}  
  
{Them? Who's them?} Marco asked privately.  
  
{I don't trust this guy!} Rachel sneered.  
  
(He said he wouldn't lie,} Tobias reminded all of us.  
  
{Prince Jake? Should I continue to speak to him?}  
  
{Yeah, Ax, keep going. Let's see if we can get some more information out of him.} All this was private thought-speak so Guide couldn't hear us.  
  
Usually I'm pretty good at figuring out people's motives. But after studying Guide, I was feeling a little bit confused. I mean, it would have been understandable if he had been a little surprised to see us, but there was a big difference between being surprised and drawing out a gun.  
  
I must have been lost in my thoughts, because I was surprised when Jake said, {Okay, everyone, follow him. Ax, how much time do we have left in morph?}  
  
{90 of your minutes.}  
  
{Ax. We've mysteriously appeared in the world of crazy aliens who have mysteriously disappeared, and the only one of these aliens that we have come across has tried to shoot you with a gun, and this is the same guy who we are now following back to his home. Do you think that the situation is weird enough for you to not do the whole "our minutes, your minutes," thing?} Marco, of course.  
  
I smiled to myself. When he put it that way, things did seem a little bizarre.  
  
{What I wanna know is how you got that all out in one breath,} Rachel said conversationally.  
  
{Well, technically, it's thought-speak, so it wasn't one breath.) Jake commented off-handedly.  
  
Poor Jake. This must be a little bit harder for him. After all, it was here that he had almost single-handedly defeated Crayak. And Crayak had hated him ever since.  
  
Than I remembered my family. My parents. How would they react when they discovered that their only daughter had suddenly disappeared from the mall? I felt a sudden spurt of guilt, causing my parents to worry. Than again, it wasn't like I had done it on purpose.  
  
It was amazing. After all that had happened in the last half hour, I still could feel regular emotions like guilt.  
  
We flew through the air, following the figure of the Iskoort on the ground below us. The air felt...different. It sounded strange, but the air, like the land, seemed eerily void of all life...like it was dead or something. It was an eerie, unsettling feeling.  
  
{We are here,} Guide announced.  
  
{Um...where?} We were at a little clearing. There was nothing other than a big rock.  
  
Guide pushed the rock aside. And we saw a hole in the ground.  
  
{You've got to be kidding me,} Marco moaned.  
  
{Should we demorph? Is it safe?} Rachel wondered aloud.  
  
{It should be. I mean, he's seen us in our natural forms, before. It won't change anything to demorph now.}  
  
He was right. We started to demorph, while Guide waited patiently, apparently still fascinated by the morphing.  
  
{Are you any more interested now in selling your ability to change shapes?} It looked like Guide hadn't lost his interest in making money. Maybe some things never changed.  
  
"Um... are we supposed to go down there or something?" Marco asked, now mostly human. He pointed towards the hole.  
  
{Yes.} With that, Guide jumped in.  
  
We all stared for a moment in the direction of the hole.  
  
"After you," Marco said.  
  
"God, you're such a baby." Rachel rolled her eyes and lowered herself into the hole. Tobias dove into it after her, followed by a nervous Ax and a wary Marco. Now it was my turn.  
  
I slowly climbed down into it, and immediately was engulfed in darkness. I saw a faint outline of Jake as he scrambled down, and then Guide was pushing the rock back on top of the whole and everything was completely, totally, dark.  
  
{Follow me.} We heard Guide's seemingly disembodied voice.  
  
"How are we supposed to follow you if we can't see you?" Came Marco's shrill reply.  
  
{Oh yes, I forgot that you might not be able to see as well as the Iskoort can.} A second later, a light flickered on, and I could dimly see everyone. Rachel, hands on hips, slightly annoyed expression on her face. Tobias, perched on her shoulder, his fierce eyes revealing nothing. Ax, his Andalite claustrophobia apparently kicking in as he stood, looking apprehensive. Marco, examining everything around us. Jake, a small frown on his face as he studied Guide. And me.  
  
We were in a tunnel. A long, dark, tunnel. I took a deep breath, and felt a warm hand clasp over mine. I looked over to see Jake's supportive face looking back at me. I smiled at him, glad that he was there, but also glad that it was dark enough for Marco not to notice our attached hands.  
  
{Follow me,} Guide repeated as he started walking. Jake and I fell behind everyone else.  
  
"What do you think of all this?" Jake asked me quietly.  
  
"I don't know," I replied truthfully. "But I wish we knew why this was all happening."  
  
"Me too," He admitted. I tightened my grasp on his hand. We walked along silently.  
  
Finally, we heard Guide's thought-speak voice. {We are here.}  
  
I looked up and saw... light. After the dimness of the tunnel, the light startled me. I blinked, looked around again, and my mouth fell open.  
  
"No way." 


	5. Tobias Time!

*After this, Tobias isn't gonna get any more chapters... you'll see why at the end of the story (((*  
  
TOBIAS TIME!!  
  
I wasn't in the best mood. I was perched on Rachel's shoulder, aching to stretch my wings, but unable to fly because the tunnel was too cramped. Last night, I hadn't gotten any sleep thanks to some creepy dreams that had relentlessly hounded me. And now, my friends and I were stuck in some strange place, walking underground to God-knows-where, following some messed-up Iskoort, who, only a little while ago, had wanted us dead.  
  
It was not the best day.  
  
"No way." Cassie stopped walking, and her mouth fell open. Her voice broke into my thoughts. I followed her gaze, and the reason she had been startled suddenly became very apparent.  
  
Only a few feet ahead of us lay what looked like a completely different world. Where the other Iskoort world had been crazy, multi-colored, and irrationally assembled, this place was logically assembled. It looked like a lot of boring business-suited accountants and stock-brokers had gotten together and made this place. All the steps were perfectly even with each other, each house and door exactly the same, all a dull gray color. And even more amazing, there were masses of Iskoort milling around everywhere. All these Iskoort stopped and stared at us as we came in.  
  
"No-freakin-way," Marco gasped.  
  
"Wait a minute. Why aren't they running up to us and asking us to buy and sell things like they did last time we came?" Cassie asked in a tone low enough for only us to hear.  
  
Guide noticed our shocked expressions. {We managed to build a smaller replica of our world underground. Now all Iskoort reside here. We used different techniques when building. That is why the buildings are slightly different from those on the surface.}  
  
"Slightly different?" Marco muttered.  
  
"Guide, why does everyone live here and not up there?" Jake questioned. Before Guide could answer, a short, stocky Iskoort came up to him. The two must have talked, because Guide turned to us a minute later and said, {Rafe requests that you follow him.} Then in supposedly private thought-speak, Guide told us, {Rafe is the sole member left of the Story-telling and All- Knowing Guild. Also, he had been known to possess...powers. It would do you good to listen to him.}  
  
All-knowing? What exactly did Rafe know? I wondered these thoughts to myself.  
  
We turned to follow Rafe and he led us into a house. The gazes of the Iskoort followed us as we entered the house.  
  
"Okay, this is only a little bit weird," Marco told us once the door was closed. Jake nodded imperceptibly, than turned to Rafe. "Excuse me, Rafe? Do you think you could explain to us what's going on?"  
  
Rafe turned around and faced us. {I will tell you a story.}  
  
"Yay! Story time!" Marco said brightly. Jake shot him a look.  
  
"What is the story about?" Jake asked. I think he, like the rest of us, already knew.  
  
{I will tell you the story of how we became like this.} Rafe settled down in his chair, and looked into our eyes. He began his tale.  
  
{I know you. I know each of you. Jake, the leader. Rachel, the warrior. Marco, the questioner. Aximili, the cadet. Cassie, the gentle. Tobias, the trapped.} He made eye contact with each of us in turn.  
  
{I know why you are here. I know what you want. And I shall tell you the story.} He shifted once more in his chair, and once more stared intensely at us.  
  
{After you left, we flourished. We were left, unharmed, for many years. Than, suddenly, a problem arose. We discovered that many Iskoort were being taken away and killed for no reason. For this reason, we started to build this underground world. And that is why we are as we are today.}  
  
We were all a little startled. I think that we had all been expecting a much longer and more complicated explanation.  
  
{At times, we send someone up to the surface to check to see if any help has come. For we have become restless here. None of the Guilds is able to complete his job. And, lately we have discovered that staying underground is not healthy for the Iskoort. It causes us to become ill. For these reasons, we need your help to clear the surface land of our enemies, of the things who have hunted and killed us.}  
  
"What about us? We need help also."  
  
{Yes. I am aware of your predicament. I believe that we can come to an agreement. There may be a way to send you home. If allowed the supplies that are above ground, we could almost guarantee a way to send you back to your own land. }  
  
"Oh, so pretty much you're saying that you would help us, but only as long as we help you first," Marco said.  
  
Rafe said nothing.  
  
"It doesn't look like we have a choice," Jake said, a pained expression on his face. "It's either help them or never get home."  
  
We were all silent as we considered being stuck with the Iskoort forever.  
  
"Okay, I'm all for helping them," Marco said quickly.  
  
{Wait,} I said. {What exactly are we fighting against?} We looked over at Rafe.  
  
{I do not know.}  
  
"Aren't you part of the all-knowing people? Shouldn't you know this?" Marco said in an accusing tone.  
  
Rafe was quiet once more.  
  
"I don't know," Cassie said hesitantly. "There are too many unanswered questions. We don't know who we're fighting against. We don't know if they can truly send us home. We don't know why Guide was carrying a gun. We don't know why we're here, and how we ended up here. It seems kind of risky to just go along and do this without even knowing exactly what we're doing."  
  
What she said made sense.  
  
{There does not seem to be any other option,} Ax pointed out.  
  
"He's right," Rachel said.  
  
It felt like we were missing something. I couldn't figure out just what we were missing, but we were definitely skipping over something.  
  
I studied Rafe. He sat there, calmly waiting, like he already knew what we were going to say. Maybe he did know. After all, he had known who we were. And what our problem was. But how could he know all that but still not know who our enemy was. How did we know for certain that Rafe wasn't our enemy?  
  
Rafe turned his eyes to meet mine. He stared at me intensely, his gaze not faltering. It felt like he knew what I was thinking. {No, I am not your enemy, Tobias the trapped.}  
  
I flapped my wings suddenly, startled by the quiet thought-speak voice in my head. Everyone else turned to stare at me. "What's wrong?" Cassie asked.  
  
{Nothing, I'm fine,} I told them. I perched again on Rachel's shoulder, refusing to look in Rafe's direction.  
  
But somehow, I felt as if there was a power...or a force, telling me, urging me, to look back in Rafe's direction. It felt like it wasn't possible to resist. As if in a trance, I turned to look back at him.  
  
Rafe's eyes seemed to be on fire. They burned into mine, enthralling me. I couldn't look away, and it felt as if everything but those entrancing eyes was slowly, slowly, fading away... 


	6. Rachel's take!

A/N: My computer is really messed up and it's not letting me see my reviews, so I can't respond to any of them or answer any questions or anything. Sorry, guys!  
  
Rachel's take on all this!  
  
So some old, ugly-looking Iskoort refused to help us unless we helped him first? Fine. We'd go and rescue his stupid little town, then we'd go home in time to catch the sale at Express.  
  
At least I hoped so.  
  
The truth was, I was already sick of all this. I was glad that we were about to go and do something instead of sitting around, listening to stupid stories. But there was no point complaining. After all, it wouldn't help anything. And only babies complained ...like Marco.  
  
We walked out of Rafe's house, and straight into a mob of Iskoorts.  
  
{Have you agreed to help us?} Guide asked eagerly.  
  
"Wait a minute...you knew about this?" I asked him, anger slowly growing inside of me. People say that I get mad very quickly over very small things. They're right.  
  
"Yes," Jake ignored me. "We have agreed to do this under the condition that we will be provided a way home."  
  
{Yes, yes. Are we ready to leave yet?}  
  
"What?!" Six voices and thought-speaks mixed together in astonishment.  
  
Guide continued as if we hadn't spoken. {Of course, I will be going with you. And we shall be leaving right away.}  
  
"What? We don't get a break?" Marco began his usual whining.  
  
{Wait, Marco. It might be a good idea for us to leave now. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can go home.} Tobias interjected.  
  
I frowned at him. Why was he so eager to do this? All we were doing was going out to fight whatever evil thing was attacking the Iskoort.  
  
Wait a minute. Why was I so eager to do this?  
  
Tobias noticed me looking at him and turned back to stare at me with fierce, amber hawk eyes. He didn't say anything. There was something unsettling about his gaze. Well, something more unsettling than his usual cold stare.  
  
Maybe I was just imagining it. Either that or the combination of Marco and the Iskoort was getting to me.  
  
I tuned back into the conversation, where Jake was droning on about being careful or something irrelevant like that. "Well, we're not getting anything by standing around here! Come on, let's go! Let's do it!" I said impatiently.  
  
Everyone groaned. Marco shook his head sadly. "It just wouldn't be a normal suicidal mission unless Rachel gave us her blessing."  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Marco, do you ever say anything sensible?" Honestly, there should be places to keep idiots like him so they don't annoy the normal people.  
  
"Anyway," Jake stated, glancing over at me, "it might be a good idea to find out what exactly we're battling against before we plunge headfirst into certain death."  
  
"Geez, Jake, when did you get to be so pessimistic?" I grumbled.  
  
He shrugged. "I hang around Marco too much."  
  
"What is this, pick on Marco time?" Marco grumbled.  
  
{There is a specific time devoted to harassing certain people?} Ax wondered.  
  
Before Marco could make a smart remark, Cassie interrupted. "Guys, we have a job to do," she reminded.  
  
Jake cleared his throat and shot her a grateful look. Then he glanced around a little nervously to be sure that no one had caught him sending hr looks. "Cassie's right, we need to get back on track. Guide, do you think you can take us to the place where all the Iskoort get attacked?"  
  
That sobered us up quickly. Guide nodded. {Yes.}  
  
"Okay, then let's go!" I said enthusiastically.  
  
{Yes, there is a... a problem.} Guide said. He sounded uncomfortable. {The Iskoort seem only to be assailed when they are most unsuspecting. Therefore, I do not think that the attackers...whoever they are...would assault a person if he was expecting the attack.}  
  
We all absorbed this for a minute.  
  
"Okay," Jake said slowly. "That means that we're going to have to fake looking oblivious. In other words," he looked over in my direction again, "we're NOT looking for trouble. Understood?"  
  
"Rachel!" Marco coughed conspicuously. I glared at him.  
  
Jake continued talking. "Guide, we need you to be the "oblivious Iskoort," obviously. The rest of us will go as fleas on you." Cassie nodded approvingly. "Fleas are good. Nearly indestructible."  
  
"Wait a minute. Where's the firepower? How are we supposed to get the guy if we can't even see him properly?" I protested.  
  
Jake looked at me sternly. "Rachel. We. Are. Not. Looking. For. Trouble. We are trying to look unsuspicious. So we are going to go as fleas, and once we get to...to wherever we need to be, we'll morph out, see the situation, and then, and ONLY then, will we see whether or not battle morphs are needed."  
  
I scowled. What could we do as fleas? We were practically mindless machines. We couldn't fight or anything. There was no way that we could beat whoever we were fighting just by sucking his blood.  
  
"So, where do we go?" Marco said cheerily.  
  
{We should be able to reach the area reasonably quickly if we follow this yellow road,} Guide gestured to a very noticeable yellow road to the right of where we were that led out of the tunnel in the opposite way that we had come in.  
  
We stared at him. "You have got to be kidding," I muttered. I could practically see the look of glee spreading across Marco's face as we began walking towards the yellow road. This was too easy of an opportunity for him.  
  
"Follow the yellow brick road! Follow the yellow brick road! Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road!" He sang out brightly.  
  
I groaned. This was going to be a long trip.  
  
As we left, we heard a shout of {Good-bye, Mr. Guide!}  
  
This momentarily stopped Marco from his singing (and made me say hallelujah). "Mr. Guide?"  
  
Guide seemed embarrassed. Not that I would know how to tell if Iskoort are embarrassed. I mean, he pretty much looked the same to me.  
  
{After I became rich, many became taken to calling me "Mr. Guide."} He explained.  
  
Marco snickered. "Well you go ahead and lead the way, Mr. Guide. And we'll just follow you down this yellow brick road." He turned to grin evilly at me and opened his mouth to sing.  
  
Cassie, surprisingly, threw her hand over his mouth. "Don't even start, Marco."  
  
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. 


	7. How could we forget Ax? And we all love ...

A/N: two abnormally short chapters. So I made up for it by making them into one chapter. Ya'll, thanks so much for reviewing... I'll try to take any advice you give and of course I'm taking the compliments!! Okay, everyone, stick with me through this, there's still a few more twists coming up...  
  
How could we forget Ax??  
  
At times, humans confuse me.  
  
We had been traveling for about half an hour. During that time, we had repeatedly been forced to listen to Marco continuously sing about "following a yellow brick road."  
  
Now he had progressed on to a new song.  
  
"We're off to see the wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!"  
  
I did not know what "Oz" was, but I assumed it was a mystical place of great importance to the humans, considering how pleased Marco seemed to be from singing about it.  
  
"Marco, if you sing one more song from the Wizard of Oz, I will personally rip your throat out so that you won't be able to sing any more!" Rachel growled.  
  
Marco smiled at her and sang, "Somewhere, over the rainbow..." Rachel lunged for him and he hid behind Cassie.  
  
Prince Jake sighed. "Come on guys, cut it out." He sounded tired.  
  
However, if what I have learned is correct, Rachel and Marco "horse around," as Prince Jake says, to relieve stress and fear over the missions.  
  
I was not looking forward to becoming a flea. Nor did I trust Guide. I could not forget that he had attempted to shoot me with a gun when we had first encountered him.  
  
"Alright, everyone, stop." Prince Jake directed. "Do we all know the plan?"  
  
"Yes Jake. We are aware of exactly how to put ourselves in almost suicidal and definitely life-threatening danger once again."  
  
"Marco, we are helping the Iskoort. Doesn't that make you feel any better?" Cassie asked him.  
  
Marco stopped to think for a moment. "Nope."  
  
"Okay, everyone, morph to flea." Prince Jake instructed, ignoring them.  
  
I focused on the flea. I felt the changes begin. My fur became hard and turned to a shell, while at the same time I felt myself shrinking until I was very small. My stalk eyes were sucked into my head, and I became nearly blind. All I was aware of was the overwhelming urge for blood.  
  
{Okay, Guide? Do you think you could pick us up and out us...uh, somewhere on you?} Prince Jake instructed.  
  
Guide did not say anything, but soon I felt myself flying through the air and landing on something, which I assumed was Guide.  
  
As I struggled to control the urge to taste Guide's blood, I heard Prince Jake call out more instructions. {Okay, Guide, remember, you are unsuspecting and oblivious. Just walk out there and do...do whatever it is that you Iskoort do.}  
  
{Another brilliantly stated sentence by Jake,} Marco commented.  
  
{As if you're one to talk about brilliantly stated sentences!} Rachel retorted.  
  
{At this rate we'll never get anything done,} Tobias grumbled. He seemed to be feeling very irritable.  
  
{Mr. Guide,} Marco seemed very taken with that name. {Come on. Let us in on the action. Give us some play-by-play commentary!} Marco said.  
  
{Play by play?}  
  
{He means, just tell us what's happening, Guide,} Cassie explained.  
  
{Ah. Well, I am walking around innocently and unsuspectingly of any evil that might befall me.} Guide explained to us while I forced myself not to take any of his blood.  
  
{Okay, that sounded completely unsuspicious.} Marco said. Then in what my friends call "a fake whisper," he said, {He sounds like Ax.}  
  
{I most certainly do not sound like that,} I told him haughtily.  
  
{Suuure.}  
  
{Guide, how's it going with you?} Prince Jake asked.  
  
{There seems to be no one here.}  
  
Suddenly we felt movement. Wild, sudden, movement.  
  
{Woah!}  
  
(Could have warned us about that one!}  
  
{Guide, what's happening?} Prince Jake demanded.  
  
{I am being carried off. It appears I have been captured.}  
  
{That's strange. I thought it would take longer.} Cassie commented. I agreed. It seemed almost too quick. And almost too easy.  
  
{Well, at least we're captured now. That's what we wanted.} Tobias said.  
  
{Well, don't hide the details, Mr. Guide!} Marco said brightly. {Who was the lucky person...or thing...to catch us?}  
  
{We were captured by...} There was hesitation in his voice. {By Rafe.}  
  
Chapter 7 (Jake's POV)  
  
{I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!} Rachel hissed.  
  
The situation had become very bad very fast.  
  
I was astonished. How was Rafe the one who had caught us? He was the one who had wanted us to save his precious world. Had he really set us up?  
  
{I have them!} Rafe announced triumphantly, in open thought-speak so that everyone could hear.  
  
Apparently he had. And I had been stupid enough to not see it.  
  
{I'd pulverize that guy if I weren't a flea!} Rachel yelled.  
  
{Yes, that's just one tiny detail,} Marco said sarcastically. Then he laughed. {Get it? Tiny?}  
  
But it wasn't time to get angry or sarcastic or to make lame jokes. We needed to focus.  
  
{Guide? What's happening?} I asked urgently.  
  
{I am being carried to a room. I do not know where I am. Ow! I have just been knocked onto the floor. There is a gun aimed at my head. I am being poked repeatedly with it.} Guide sounded terrified.  
  
I mentally took a deep breath. {Okay, calm down. Now look around. Tell me what you see.}  
  
{The room is plain. Rafe is entering the room now.} Hardly the description I wanted. We heard, or rather, felt loud vibrations on the floor.  
  
{Don't worry, we still have one up on him. He doesn't know we're here,} Marco said assuredly.  
  
{Animorphs.} Rafe's voice. {Get off of Mr. Guide and demorph. Or I shall kill him.}  
  
{Remind us to never listen to you again, Marco.} Rachel snapped. Then, {Not like we listened to you before.}  
  
{Oops,} Marco said sheepishly. A moment later he had to add, {He's got us trapped and he's still calling Guide "Mr. Guide?" You've got to be kidding!}  
  
{Jake?} Cassie asked me, waiting for an answer.  
  
I thought and quickly made a decision. {Do what he says, for now. We don't want anyone to get hurt.}  
  
I braced myself and launched off of Guide. I was falling, falling, falling! I tumbled through the air. Then I landed on the floor without a scratch. I immediately began to demorph.  
  
Once I was human, I looked around me. Guide had been right; there wasn't much else to say about the room other than that it was plain. The only distinctive thing was that there seemed to be a small, very tightly locked cell in the corner. It looked exactly like a prison cell, except stronger.  
  
The others finished demorphing just about the same time as me. The only one who finished before was Cassie, who has an amazing talent for morphing.  
  
"I don't like the look of that," Marco muttered when he spotted the cell, voicing my thoughts exactly.  
  
About twenty other Iskoort trooped into the room.  
  
"I definitely don't like the look of that." Marco remarked almost conversationally.  
  
"Really? I wonder why?" Rachel shot at him.  
  
"There are that many of them against us?" Cassie whispered in wonder.  
  
Rafe smiled wickedly at us, apparently happy that he had gotten us trapped. He pointed towards the cell. {Get in.}  
  
{Make us,} Rachel sneered.  
  
Ten minutes later, they had made us.  
  
Rafe glared over in our direction, probably a little mad because of the scratches and cuts that he had received from a mad Rachel . {There is no way to escape. Don't even try.} He sauntered away. Then he leaned back in. {If you do try, we will kill Mr. Guide.}  
  
Rachel turned to stare angrily at me. "See? I told you fleas wouldn't be good enough!"  
  
I sighed, leaned against the wall, and sank down onto the floor. Cassie came over and sat next to me.  
  
"Don't worry. We'll get out of here," She reassured me. I smiled weakly at her, grateful for the effort.  
  
But the thing was, I knew that we could get out of here. We both knew that we could escape easily. The question was, would we get out of here with Guide alive? 


	8. Here we go, one more time

A/N: Great, another Marco chapter... *groan*. But thanks again for all the reviews!! And thanks, Sue and Kat and everyone else who caught my mistake (I have since learned not to write chapters at 2 AM, no matter how hyper and awake I think I am.) By the way, yes, I was very hungry when I was writing this...  
  
It's amazing how in a short matter of time, you can go from being perfectly organized with a well-designed plan to completely disorganized with no idea what you're doing.  
  
Or if you're us, from disorganized to completely messed-up.  
  
For starters, we had been betrayed by the guy who had sent us out to defeat his enemy, a mission that was pretty much our only chance to get back home. And not only that, he had about twenty more Iskoort on his side who also were betraying us. Add on to that the fact that they had taken our lovely Iskoort friend, Guide, as hostage. And even more, they had us held in a cell we could have easily left from, but they were threatening to kill Guide if we even scratched our heads the wrong way. And lastly, we were stuck in a cell with an extremely claustrophobic Andalite.  
  
But other than that, everything was peachy.  
  
Peachy. Peaches were good. Actually, anything that was food was good. I hadn't eaten since at the mall. How long ago had that been?  
  
I missed food. And while on that topic, I missed my room, too. And my dad. And my CD player. And the many girls who usually swarmed around me. And my TV. And the days when I wouldn't have even been worried about magically being transported to a world where the residents actually have a real, yellow, road.  
  
But mostly I missed food. Greasy, tasty, pizza, and juicy hamburgers. Refreshing, ice-cold 7-Up's. Rich, chocolaty slices of cake, coated in sweet icing. Warm, delicious, chocolate-chip cookies straight from the oven. And nachos. Nachos dripping in cheese.  
  
But no. Reality check. I was sitting on the cold, hard, floor, in a freezing cell wearing skintight spandex. Yes, I was a long way away from home.  
  
"What's the plan, Jake?" Rachel asked tightly. She looked like she was barely constraining herself from morphing to grizzly and ripping down the door to the cell. Which, knowing Rachel, she probably was considering doing.  
  
Jake lowered his voice and glanced around to make sure the Iskoort couldn't hear us. "Okay, everyone, here's the deal. We need to get out of here. But we all need to get out of here. In other words, we're not leaving Guide behind."  
  
A thought had suddenly occurred to me. "How do we know Guide wasn't behind this the whole time? How do we know that he wasn't on Rafe's side and that he didn't set us up?"  
  
Jake shrugged. "We don't know. But the deal is, he came in with us. So he's coming out with us. We're not leaving anyone behind."  
  
Rachel clacked her fingernails impatiently against the floor. "I repeat: what's the plan?"  
  
Jake nodded, and ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, first, we need to get out of this cell, but without them knowing. They'll figure it out if all of us morph, or if even a few of us do, so only one of us will."  
  
{I will,} Tobias volunteered. {I'm the smallest.}  
  
Jake nodded. He had known that it would be Tobias. "So Tobias will morph into some bug and slip out of the cage. Then he'll demorph, and remorph into something bigger and take out the two Iskoort guarding this cage."  
  
I gave him a doubtful look. "And the Iskoort are just going to let a random red-tailed hawk morph into something else?"  
  
Jake smiled. "That's where the diversion comes in."  
  
"What's the diversion?" I asked, dreading the answer.  
  
"Well, we're going to need to appeal to the Iskoort's senses." Cassie explained, taking over for Jake.  
  
{Which senses?} Ax questioned.  
  
Cassie smiled now. "Their entrepreneur's sense."  
  
I stared at her. "So we're going to try and bribe them? Cassie, I never thought you would stoop so low. I mean, I would expect this from Jake, but from you? Never."  
  
Jake rolled his eyes, and Cassie blushed a little. Then Jake turned to Tobias. "Okay, go ahead, Tobias."  
  
Tobias hopped behind Rachel and started morphing to fly. I slid up to the nearest Iskoort.  
  
"Hey, buddy," I whispered at the same time that Cassie was sidling up the other guy. "Wanna make some quick cash?"  
  
The Iskoort gave me a confused look. Then he ignored me. I tried again.  
  
"Come on, man! I'm talking about being rich. Like Mr. Guide."  
  
This caught the guy's attention. He turned to face me, eager. {How can I become as rich as Mr. Guide?}  
  
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie gesturing toward Rachel's golden, shining, hair. So I pointed to Ax's tail.  
  
"See that? It looks nice, doesn't it?" The Iskoort nodded. I turned on the greasy, slick, salesman act. "Say, what's your name?"  
  
{I am Guard.}  
  
Figures. First Guide, now Guard. A pure example of the sort of imaginative names the Iskoort have.  
  
"Okay, Guard. Look at that tail. I guarantee you that that is something Mr. Guide doesn't have." He nodded. I quickly looked over and saw a fly zipping through the air, making it's way over to a dark corner.  
  
"Now listen to me, Guard, because I'm about to make a real good offer here." Another glance told me that now Tobias was demorphing rapidly.  
  
Hurry up, Bird-Boy, I thought to myself.  
  
"I promise you, that you can have that tail over there, as long as you do me one simple favor."  
  
{Marco, there is no possible way that I will give up my tail.} Ax said snootily. I tried to give him a look that conveyed, "Don't worry, this is all just BS that I'm making up in an attempt to stall and waste time so that Tobias can hurry up and knock these guys out so that we can get out of this place, rescue Guide, and somehow magically be transported back home."  
  
Ax apparently didn't get it, because he just muttered something about "humans and their confusing expressions."  
  
{What is the favor?} Guard asked me eagerly. His eyes were practically gleaming in anticipation.  
  
It was amazing. In the end, it was simple greed that was going to help us get out of here.  
  
I saw an almost full grown Hork-Bajir emerging from the corner. Tobias trotted over, shoved the two Iskoort onto the ground, and easily sliced the lock off the cage.  
  
Rachel was the first to rush out, exclaiming, "Thank god we're out of that stupid cage!"  
  
I headed over to get out of the cell too, when Tobias surprised us all. In a split second, he slammed the door to the cell closed, whirled around, grabbed Rachel, held his blade up to her throat, and yelled, {Get up!} to the two Iskoort.  
  
Rachel's eyes went wide as she struggled to get out of his grasp, but Tobias just held her tighter.  
  
{No one move,} he sneered.  
  
"Shit," Jake cursed under his breath.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`  
  
A/N again: sorry about that last little bit of cursing...but this is a PG-13 fic. If you didn't like it, than review and tell me! Also, don't try to anticipate what's coming next, because I have a few ideas (inspired by reviewers, of course!) that I think I'm going to add in. Ciao, thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing! 


	9. Cassie Cassie Bo Bassie

Disclaimer: I just feel like putting a random disclaimer here to remind everyone that everything is the property of KAA... the only thing that belongs to me is....pretty much nothing.  
  
A/N: Yay! Another chapter! Could be longer... but oh well. Please, please, review at the end and tell me what you thought/what I could do to make it better! Thanks for reading, you guys!  
  
"Everyone, stay still!" Jake yelled.  
  
"Ya think?" Marco muttered. I knew that even though he was being sarcastic, he was shocked. We all were.  
  
{Good idea,} Tobias said in a mocking, un-Tobias like tone to Jake.  
  
Tobias had his blades pressed against an angry, fighting, Rachel. "What the hell are you DOING?" Rachel shouted at him.  
  
{Shut up,} Tobias growled at her. He squeezed her harder.  
  
This was crazy. Rafe and Tobias had both turned against us. Rafe was suprising enough...but Tobias? I couldn't believe that. None of us could. Was he...could he be ... a controller? No, he couldn't be. It was impossible. Or was it?  
  
And now, Tobias was holding Rachel in a death grip, and there was a cold, hard, look in his eyes that told us he wouldn't be afraid to hurt her, or possibly kill her.  
  
Rafe strolled casually into the room with ten Iskoort behind him and surveyed the scene.  
  
He said carelessly to Tobias, {Don't kill her.} Tobias immediately relaxed his grip on Rachel.  
  
Tobias was taking orders from Rafe? There was something that we had missed there. It was something very big, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  
  
Jake had a tense look on his face. "No one move," He instructed again.  
  
{Good idea,} Rafe said. It sounded familiar. In fact...it was the same mocking tone that Tobias had used. Exactly the same tone.  
  
Something clicked there when I realized that, but I couldn't figure out what.  
  
"Screw that," Rachel snapped, and concentrated on becoming a grizzly.  
  
"Rachel!" Jake yelled at her. Tobias moved to slice her throat, but Rafe waved a lazy hand. {Leave her,} he said. He waved his hand again, and two Iskoort clamped a big lock over the cell that Jake, Marco, Ax and I were in.  
  
Rachel was slowly growing. Rafe said to her, {If you change any more, your friends will be obliterated.}  
  
Rachel stopped midmorph.  
  
But Rafe wasn't done yet. {And, you will be forced to kill Tobias. Can you do that? Will you do that?}  
  
The tension was evident in the air. It was a standoff.  
  
Rachel, a human and bear mess, stared defiantly into Rafe's eyes. She glanced over at us, and without a word, began to reverse the morphing process.  
  
Rafe smiled. He had won. I felt a queasy feeling in my stomach.  
  
{Tobias!} Rafe shouted suddenly. Tobias was startled, and his blade flew in a reflex movement. It flew straight...time seemed to slow down....into Rachel's throat.  
  
And suddenly, I wasn't there anymore.  
  
"Aagh!" I fell onto the floor, startled. I took a deep breath, and looked around.  
  
I was in complete whiteness. It felt like I was in the air...but beneath me, the floor was solid. I was standing....on air. Completely white air.  
  
There was only one explanation.  
  
"Ellimist."  
  
CASSIE. The voice reverberated all around me.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
YOU ARE IN YOUR MIND.  
  
"Why...why am I here?" I felt stupid. I was asking why I was in my own mind.  
  
YOU MUST SAVE YOUR FRIENDS.  
  
"What? I don't know what to do! You brought us here! We don't even know why we're here, or what we're supposed to do to get back home! Is this some other world or something?"  
  
IT IS...A CHALLENGE. A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF YOU.  
  
"What are we supposed to do?"  
  
YOU HAVE SAVED THE ISKOORT ONCE. YOU MUST DO IT AGAIN.  
  
"How? What am I supposed to do?"  
  
YOU MUST SAVE THE ISKOORT.  
  
"How? We're in the worst possible situation right now! Rachel's about to get hurt, Tobias betrayed us, and we're all about to be killed!" My voice was more frantic than usual.  
  
ONE MOVE, AT THE RIGHT TIME, CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING. A WORM CAN MAKE ONE MOVE THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING. YOU CAN DO EVEN MORE.  
  
"What? That doesn't help! How are we supposed to get out of here? How did we get in here? Why are we here? How do we beat this stupid challenge?" I was frustrated. We were about to get killed off by the Iskoort and the Ellimist was just giving crypti answers.  
  
ONE MOVE, AT THE RIGHT TIME.  
  
And I was back. But...I was in the past. Jake was saying, "Okay, first, we need to get out of this cell, but without them knowing. They'll figure it out if all of us morph, or if even a few of us do, so only one of us will."  
  
{I will,} Tobias volunteered. {I'm the smallest.}  
  
Jake nodded and started to talk again.  
  
What? This was before. This was before we had figured out Tobias was a traitor, before we had been at a crucial stand-off.  
  
One move. The Ellimist had said one move, at the right time, could change everything.  
  
What move? What move did I have to make to change the outcome from positive to negative?  
  
And like magic, it became obvious. Blaringly obvious.  
  
"I'll do it," I said.  
  
Five heads snapped towards me. "Do what?" Jake asked, confused.  
  
"I'll be the one to get out of the cell." My mouth said the words before my brain could stop it.  
  
Jake tried to not have a worried look on his face. "Tobias is the smallest," he said in a neutral tone. He wanted to keep me safe, but he didn't want it to look to the others like he was giving me special preference.  
  
"No," I insisted. "I'm the fastest morpher. I'll morph, get out, demorph, than morph to something else to break you guys out."  
  
"Makes sense," Marco said with a shrug. He started to say something about how hungry he was, and I turned towards Jake.  
  
"I'll be fine," I whispered, squeezing his hand.  
  
"Yeah, I know," He whispered back. He didn't sound convinced.  
  
But I had to do this. One move. This was my move.  
  
But would it change everything? Would it change anything? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N again: You guys knew I wouldn't kill Rachel, right? I mean, KAA did enough of that... Uh-oh, I've run out of chapter titles...any ideas, people? 


	10. Rachel tells it like it is

RACHEL  
  
Cassie jumped behind Jake and Ax and started to morph fly. Meanwhile, Marco glided up to the two Iskoort guarding our cell and started to try to distract them. Which was good, because if he was distracting them, then it meant that he wasn't distracting us. So he could stay by them as long as he liked. Although there was one thing...  
  
I walked up to Marco, and grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, so the Iskoort couldn't hear us.  
  
"Rachel! I didn't know you felt that way about me! Are you sure Tobias won't get jealous?"  
  
My face turned the usual color of pink from a mix of anger and embarrassment when he mentioned Tobias and my relationship. Okay, so maybe we have a little thing going on between us. But is it really that big of a deal?  
  
"Shut up," I hissed. I tightened my grip on his arm until his face changed from an annoying little smirk to an expression of pain. "And if you mention ONE THING about my hair to the Iskoort, I will twist your arm off and shove it up your-"  
  
"I get it!" Marco cried, twisting out of my grasp. He glared at me, rubbing the red spot on his arm, but I think he got the point. Actually, I was pretty sure he got the point.  
  
{I would like to know where you were planning to place Marco's arm once you had twisted it off, Rachel,} Ax inquired.  
  
Jake sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Just let it go, Ax."  
  
{Okay, I'm demorphing,} Cassie's voice sounded in our heads.  
  
About time, I thought to myself. Maybe we would finally be able to get out of this stupid cage.  
  
Okay, so maybe I was a little cranky. But you couldn't really blame me. I was hungry. Just because I didn't complain about it every two minutes like Marco didn't mean that I wasn't still feeling it.  
  
{Remorphing...} Cassie told us.  
  
I waited impatiently for her to finish. Personally, I was sick of the Iskoort. I wanted nothing more than to just get back home and let the Iskoort go solve their problems on their own.  
  
As in, without us.  
  
{Done,} Cassie announced triumphantly.  
  
We were all surprised at the speed that Cassie had morphed. I guess it was a good thing that Cassie had gone instead of Tobias.  
  
The next thing we knew, a wolf had trotted out, knocked out the Iskoort, and gnawed off the lock on the cell.  
  
{Easy as pie,} Cassie said calmly.  
  
I strode out of the cage. Tobias flew out after me. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like Cassie was watching me and Tobias. Strange.  
  
I shook it off, reveling in being free from the cell. As dumb as it sounds, I felt liberated. And angry. I mean, NO ONE cages me up.  
  
"Look's like we're doing this the hard way. Battle morphs, everyone." Jake said.  
  
Good. I was ready to cause some major damage. I closed my eyes and felt the grizzly fur sprout out all over my body.  
  
{Morph quickly,} Cassie warned. {Rafe's coming back in...I mean, I think that he'll be coming in soon.}  
  
As if on cue, Rafe strode calmly into the room with about ten Iskoort behind him.  
  
{Are you psychic, Cassie?} Marco asked, now a gorilla.  
  
{Heh, heh. Maybe a little,} She said, almost sheepishly.  
  
{Okay,} Jake said to all of us in private thought-speak. {Marco, you go in that room and get Guide. Rachel, go with him and back him up. Everyone else, stay here and let's keep Rafe occupied and away from Marco and Rachel.}  
  
He paused, than went on. {But try not to kill the Iskoort. They may be against us for the moment, but we don't have to kill them.}  
  
I grinned. A scary, grizzly bear grin. This was my thing.  
  
I charged straight into the other room with Marco right behind me.  
  
{Uh-oh.} We both stopped when we caught sight of our surroundings.  
  
Iskoort. Lots of Warrior Iskoort. These ones were bigger than the other ones, and looked harder to fight.  
  
{Let's do it.} I said.  
  
I jumped on the closest Iskoort I saw, claws outstretched. I slashed out a huge part of his arm. He recoiled on reflex, but whipped out and tried to hit me. I dodged, and plowed straight through him.  
  
THUD. He landed, not very gracefully, on top of a few other Iskoort.  
  
{Hah hah!} I crowed. And lunged for the next one. More Iskoort came over and tried to get swipes at me.  
  
{Jake, we need some back-up!} Marco yelled, surrounded by his own group of Iskoort.  
  
{I am coming!} Ax said. He galloped in, and his tail zipped through the air, lashing out and slashing up Iskoort.  
  
{Marco! Guide!} Ax said.  
  
Marco made his way over to the cell that Guide was in. Using his gorilla strength, he bent back the bars on the cell and pulled Guide out. {Aagh!} Guide cried, obviously not too pleased to be picked up by a huge, hairy, gorilla.  
  
{Oh, shut up, Mr. Guide. I'm saving your life,} Marco grumbled.  
  
Suddenly I felt intense pain. I hadn't been paying attention, and an Iskoort had managed to jab a knife into me.  
  
I roared and turned on him, knocking him viciously to the ground. More Iskoort were coming at me; but I didn't care.  
  
{Rachel, come on! You're bleeding!} Someone yelled at me. I didn't know who, and I didn't care. I was gonna kill the stupid Iskoort who had sliced me up!  
  
{Rachel!} Ax stood in front of me, blocking me from moving. {Rachel, we must go.}  
  
{Get out of the way,} I growled, a red haze coming over my eyes. Marco shoved himself into my huge mass and pushed me back into the other room. Cassie saw me and gasped.  
  
{Rachel! Demorph!}  
  
{No,} I said, strength leaving me. {No, fighting...}  
  
{Rachel. Demorph.} Jake was in my face now. {We don't have time for this.}  
  
Somehow, that brought me back. I concentrated hard and focused on becoming me again.  
  
{Everyone, go!} Jake roared. Ax sliced a hole in the door and Marco made it big enough for all of us. We stumbled out, me half demorphing and needing to be carried on Cassie.  
  
Finally, we were away. All of us. In one piece.  
  
I sank down onto the ground. Tobias flitted over beside me.  
  
Everyone started demorphing. Everyone but Cassie.  
  
"Cassie, why don't you-" I started, but she interrupted me with her actions.  
  
She jumped over and pinned Tobias to the ground. {Aah!} he cried in surprise.  
  
"Cassie, what are you doing?" I yelled. She ignored me.  
  
{Who are you?} She growled at Tobias. {I don't know what you are or who you are, but you'd better leave Tobias alone.} 


End file.
